More about me

I have been actively involved in Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) since 2005. I found my way into this field when I was looking for volunteer work. In the years before I had studied 'Environmental Policy Design' for a year at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. After that I obtained a BSc degree in 'Forest- and Nature Conservation' at Wageningen University. As a part of this study I spent four stimulating months in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, USA, as a field researcher in an ecological restoration project.

EE is so much moreWhile volunteering as an education developer at Het Groene Wiel, the local EE center in Wageningen, I found out that EE was no longer 'just an enriched biology lesson'. Decision making processes and value development, I was pleased to learn, had become an important part of it. While working at the center I learned a lot about the development of educational materials, especially for primary schools. I discovered that asking the right questions was at least as important as having the right content knowledge. And as it turned out, I was pretty good at asking questions.

An academic perspective on EE After I obtained my BSc degree I had a strong desire to develop an academic perspective on EE, so I enrolled in the MSc program ´Applied Communication Science´ at Wageningen University where I specialized in EE and ESD. I studied the Roots & Shoots program (founded by Dr. Jane Goodall) and I deepened my knowledge of GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), an international hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science program.

In my Master's thesis I examined the educational youth project 'Slippery Litter' (designed by Schools for Sustainability) and developed a model for measuring the extent to which student engagement with the subject (litter) and with the educational process were affected by participation in EE projects. I received my MSc degree with honors and placed second for the Rachel Carson Environmental Sciences Thesis Award 2008 – 2009.

Working in the EE praxis Immediately after graduation I found employment as a project leader at a Dutch foundation, SOM Nijmegen, that operated nationally and contributed to the transition to a more sustainable society by developing education- and participation projects. I continued this work through my own company, Konekto Consultancy, with the intention of building bridges between the academic world and the EE praxis. It is inspirational to develop these projects and to see concepts materialize.

The bridge between the EE praxis and scienceI enjoy thinking about the way in which people learn. "How can you actively involve people in their own learning process? How can you stimulate people to take better care of their surroundings? Which working methods are effective for a particular target group? Which language style is most appropriate?"I increasingly perceive the value of the scientific approach in searching for answers. This led to my participation in a scientific pilot study exploring the potential relationship between 'nature rich schoolyards' and the educational, motor and social development of children. I am currently preparing an article based on the results of this study.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿PhD research about the development of uncertainty competences﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

In September 2014 I embarked on a new journey. I have been admitted to the postgraduate research program of the University of Edinburgh where I will focus on these questions: How can we teach children to deal with the uncertainty inherent in the complex environmental challenges that face humanity? Which learning environments are most conducive to the acquisition of the competences needed to deal with this uncertainty? And what attributes are required for teachers to be effective in facilitating this learning process?